Born of the Darkness
by UnseenStag
Summary: What if James Potter had an encounter with Voldemort before expected, and Harry was the son of a dangerous Death Eater?
1. Memories and Knockturn Alley

Alright! My first Harry Potter fic written all by myself! ^_^ I'm so happy!  
  
Disclaimer: What would make you think that I owned Harry Potter? Please, if I owned Harry Potter I would be sitting in a huge heated indoor pool, paying someone else to do my 2,500-word research essay that's due tomorrow. So no, I don't own him. And for those of you who are interested I DID finish my report. By myself.  
  
Ok, on with the fic!  
  
*************  
  
*flashback*  
  
There are four figures standing in the empty Gryffindor Common room, talking in low voices, with somewhat saddened looks on their faces. One of them speaks up softly in a voice of pure excitement, "Is everything in place?" "I believe so," answered a second, less assured and slightly squeaky voice. "I can't believe this is our final hour in Hogwarts," replies the one with the shaggy black hair and blue eyes. Another boy with messy black hair stepped back and straightened his glasses to get a last good look at the Common room.  
  
"Lighten up, Padfoot. At least we have a goodbye the whole train'll hear." "Literally," Padfoot grinned back.  
  
*end flashback*  
  
James leaned back in his chair and smiled at the memory. It hadn't been that long ago that he had graduated from Hogwarts and entered the Ministry of Magic. What took up most of his time now, however, was his place in the Order. (A/N This is how I interpret the Order of the Phoenix, as no one is really sure of what is it yet) He and a few of Dumbledore's most trusted friends and students had meetings kept secret from Voldemort and even the Ministry.  
  
Under Dumbledore's leadership they discussed the happenings and possible actions that could be taken against Voldemort to end his reign of terror. He was so involved in the Order that he rarely had time to see his friends anymore. Out of meetings, anyway.  
  
But today he was playing hookey, and at the moment, he and the girl of his dreams were at the Leaky Cauldron.  
  
"Earth to James," said Lily teasingly at his absentmindedness, "Shouldn't we get moving? We still have to go into Diagon Alley."  
  
James snapped back to reality. He forgot, he WAS working today. They had been asked to check out Knockturn Alley, a definite Death Eater hangout. There were a few things they needed there that might trigger some interesting conversations.  
  
James stood up and started walking toward the back door, followed closely by Lily. After tapping his wand at the brick wall, they both walked into Diagon Alley.  
  
*** (A/N I thought about leaving it here, but I suppose I could include the next part.leave you at a cliffhanger instead)  
  
Lily and James were roaming around the dark twisted alley, their hood pulled up over their heads, concealing their faces. They couldn't risk being seen; there were too many people brushing past them to know exactly whose company they were in.  
  
They passed a group of wizards who were crouched around a display of rusted knives, muttering in low voices and eying Lily and James up as they passed. Lily gripped James arm and walked a little closer. She looked over her shoulder and saw a band of wizards staring blankly at them and following from a distance. Before she could mention this, however, James had opened the door of a large shop almost concealed in the black wall.  
  
James stepped up to the counter as a hooded wizard appeared from a back door. "Ah, and how can I help you today, sir?" he asked smoothly, leaning on the counter and staring at James, as though trying to get a better look at his face. Aware of this, James stepped back from the counter and pretended he was getting a better look at the rest of the shop's items.  
  
Lily dug in her pocket for the list until she pulled out a piece of crumpled parchment. A few of the strange gadgets and detectors listed were in clear view, so she left it to James to ask about them.  
  
"Lovely young lady you've brought with you," he said suddenly, leaning over the counter again with his leery expression, his eyes fixed on hers. Lily backed away and gripped the sleeve of James' robe. She leaned upward, closer to his ear, and whispered "I think I'll meet you outside.maybe I'll check out the apothecary next door."  
  
"Take care," he murmured back.  
  
Lily quickly crossed the store to the exit and stole a glance back at them. She shivered slightly; she did not like the look that man was giving her. Lily left the shop totally unnerved. She leaned against the cool stone wall outside, trying to ease the growing feeling of dread within her, while gazing at the smoky sky above.  
  
Being still for too long, though, was not an option. Lily saw the hooded, muttering groups beginning to close ranks on her. She hurried on to a rusty barred door with a rotting wooden sign overhead that read "Apothecary".  
  
No sooner had she stepped into the small, odd smelling shop, Lily realized she had left her list with James.  
  
***  
  
"Yes, most of our Concealers only suppress the detecting of certain dark magic inside a single room. That however," said the hooded man, pointing over James' shoulder at a marble-sized sphere, "not only conceals dark magic wherever it goes, it can also disguise the holder. I suggest taking a look at it. Comes in very useful."  
  
James turned around to observe the small orb, while the hooded man continued his prattle. Its size was very deceiving to how much power it held. Dark swirls revolved slowly somewhere in it's depths. Something about it was slowly pulling his conscious mind in. He couldn't turn away or take his eyes off of it. So enthralled by its magnificence, James continued to stare, as if in a trance. The man at the counter suddenly stopped talking, but James was too hypnotized by the orb to notice. James also didn't notice two other hooded men enter from the back, or when they drew their wands.  
  
*****************************************  
Yay! First chap done! And that was a long one. Heh, for me, anyways. I wrote it a while back and have been debating whether I should post it or not since July of last year. Haha, yeah, I'm a little nervous. So please read and review! Tell me if you like it! I will catch Snape on fire with all flames. Thanks! 


	2. Stowed in the cellar

~~Hello again! I finally found the time to update and hope you enjoy the next chapter. I found no flames to catch Snape on fire with (pity) in fact I got no reviews at all! @_@ ~~  
  
Disclaimer: You have got to be kidding. If I owned Harry Potter I don't think I'd be writing fanfiction, for one. So no, I don't own him.  
  
*In this space I'd like to thank all of my wonderful reviewers.wait, nobody reviewed my story except myself.well, if you review, in the next chapter I will be sure to thank you! Hehe!*  
  
*************************************************  
  
James was engulfed in darkness. Panicking, he tried to run, to get on his feet. It was so dark he could hardly see an inch in front of his face. Leaning against the stone wall, James got quickly to his feet and a sharp pain shot up his leg. He shifted his weight and stumbled forward in the darkness until his hands found cold, metal bars. He tried to find a way around them, but he was met by a stone wall on either side.  
  
"Hello?" James called out into the darkness, unsure if he really wanted his call answered. There were quick footsteps and low muttering echoing down from a passage a little to his right.  
  
Suddenly, several torches outside of his cell lit up and a bright light shone right on his face. Shielding his eyes, he moved slightly to the right to face his captors.  
  
"I've been waiting to see you again, Potter," came a cold voice which James remembered from his school days, "this time I'm afraid the joke is on you."  
  
*************  
  
Lily stepped back out of the apothecary and noticed that the alley was now devoid of any strange, hooded wizards. Still, she was wary of her surroundings and became more cautious than ever. For some reason, the lack of intimidating wizards made her more worried than a street crowded full of them.  
  
She walked a little faster as she was sure she could feel eyes following her. Lily pushed open the black door and walked back into the shop where she had left James. She saw no one in sight. At first she felt a little annoyed that James would leave for a different store when she specified that he could find her in the apothecary. Then Lily noticed the dust on the floor seemed to have recently disturbed, not from feet stepping on it, but from something being dragged through to the back.  
  
"Is anyone here?" she said loudly, hoping that wherever James went, he was safe. Lily lowered her hood and decided to take a peek in the back room. Maybe James went back to look at their stock? She opened the door a crack and looked in. It was so dark that it was hard to tell, but Lily had a feeling that the passage inside descended quite a bit.  
  
She lit her wand for a better look, but found her way barred. She was right, however, about the passage descending. Just as Lily was trying to think of a good way to pass through, she heard voices growing louder from below. She froze when she heard them running straight toward her.  
  
*************  
  
Severus Snape jerked his head around to search the passage behind them as the ceiling above them creaked. What sounded like a girl's voice called out. Snape waited quietly with his eyes fixed on the door. Slowly, it opened and a light illuminated the face of a girl whose brilliant red hair shined behind the bars at the top of the passage.  
  
He saw a pair of bright green eyes widen as he snapped at the two masked Death Eaters on either side of him to stop her. Snape ran ahead of them, up the stone steps, and unlocked the barred door at the top. He heard Lily running for the shop exit, knocking things over on her way out. Snape stepped over a tall smashed glass case, which now held broken dark instruments, and opened the door.  
  
*************  
  
Lily looked over her shoulder as she ran out of the shop. She could see someone opening the door, running after her, when two pairs of arms on both sides of her grabbed her own.  
  
There was nothing she could do; not even her yells for help could be heard by anyone outside of Knockturn Alley. The masked wizards were dragging her along, back to the shop concealed in the wall.  
  
********************************************************  
Alright! Another chapter done, not quite as long as the first, but I DID make an effort to update quickly. Reviews motivate me to write very much *wink wink* Come on, it won't kill you to push the little review button down there and write a few words ^_~. Thanks! 


	3. Old Enemies, Old Threats

~~Hello again! It's been-what-a year since I've written another chapter for this? Oh well, I'm back now. This update was brought on by an attack by a rabid werewolf. Heh heh, I'm not exaggerating either. Thanks Moony_Red_n_Gold, for bringing my utter laziness to my attention! ^_^  
  
Disclaimer: This is a waste of space. You know I don't own him, I know I don't own him. Harry Potter and his wonderful world belong to J.K. Rowling.  
  
*****************************************************  
  
James gripped the bars of his cell and looked out as far as he could. Most of the torches had extinguished themselves after his old nemesis had taken his cronies and left, and darkness consumed him once more. He closed his eyes for a moment and wondered whom the Death Eaters had decided was worth chasing after when they already had a victim securely locked up.  
  
His heart stopped. Surely Lily hadn't come back to find him? He searched his pockets frantically for his wand and decided the first person that dared to lay a finger on her would suffer several painful hexes. The only thing James pulled out, however, was the list she had handed him earlier.  
  
There was a bang of a door overhead and a click of a lock being opened. He could faintly hear protests, then someone being thrown roughly to the floor and a door clanged shut again. James watched as the Death Eaters marched back to his cell dragging someone between them who apparently had their hands bound. He could hear manacles clanking together.  
  
"I'll take it from here," came his enemy's voice from the shadows with an annoyingly despotic attitude. The torches burned dimly again as he grabbed the new prisoner roughly by the hood, forcing her upright, before throwing her to the floor again just beyond the bars of James' cell.  
  
"Now, we can make this easy. The more willingly you answer my questions, the less pain inflicted upon your dear mudblood girlfriend."  
  
******************************************************  
  
The inquisition was long and tiresome. Snape became more querulous at every question and the tension in the room between the two could even be felt by Lily, who, at the moment, was being ignored.  
  
Though Snape knew that James would tell them almost anything in exchange for her safety, James was the only one taking a beating. He wasn't being harassed from behind bars now either. They had tied him to a chair with his hands behind his back so that the only thing he could do was carefully slip around the questions while Snape prowled around him, trying to pry out the information he wanted.  
  
One of the still-masked Death Eaters was taking notes as directed and trying to piece together the information that James was not putting forward. Abruptly, Snape stopped pacing in front of James. "So far you have not told us anything informative. Remember Potter, your time here can only get worse if you continue to give me useless answers."  
  
"Same old threats, Snape," replied James with a grimace, "this isn't anything I didn't know or haven't already heard."  
  
Snape glared. "The results of our meeting aren't as satisfactory as I would have hoped. As we aren't getting anywhere, I believe it is time to take this case to a higher authority." He turned to the nearest Death Eater. "Release him from the chair, but keep his hands tied. We're reporting back to the Dark Lord with him." One of the masked wizards inclined his head slightly toward Lily. "I don't care what you do with the mudblood; torture her, kill her, or leave her here to starve." Snape said carelessly, watching James panic out of the corner of his eye.  
  
**************************************************************  
  
In less than a minute they were ready to leave; James had been untied and a portkey was waiting on the table nearby. A hooded wizard grabbed the neck of Lily's robes and pulled to her feet and she looked over at James, wide- eyed with fear. He looked back at her and mouthed, "Be strong." She nodded tearfully as the portkey was forced into his hand.  
  
Snape watched him disappear in disgust. He then turned to the only remaining Death Eater who was restraining Lily. "Do I use the 'same old threats' too many times?" he asked, quoting what James had said.  
  
"No," replied the Death Eater under the hood, "but does it matter?"  
  
"Of course it matters," Snape said annoyed, "Even 'I'm going to rip your lungs out through your teeth' loses its edge if said too many times."  
  
The Death Eater shrugged and Snape disapparated to follow James.  
  
***************************************************************  
  
~~ATTENTON READERS: See the little button down there that says "Review"? Click the little button. Hehe, all input and suggestions are welcomed! Flames are used to set Snape on fire!~~ 


End file.
